Myths of Babylonia and Assyria

Page: 70

One or two priests sat on the throne of Lagash in brief
succession, and then arose to power the famous Urukagina, the
first reformer in history. He began to rule as patesi, but
afterwards styled himself king. What appears certain is that he
was the leader of a great social upheaval, which received the
support of a section of the priesthood, for he recorded that his
elevation was due to the intercession of the god Nin-Girsu. Other
deities, who were sons and daughters of Nin-Girsu and Nina, had
been given recognition by his predecessors, and it is possible
that the orthodox section of Lagash, and especially the
agricultural classes, supported the new ruler in sweeping away
innovations to which they were hostile.

Like Khufu and his descendants, the Pyramid kings of Egypt's
fourth dynasty, the vigorous and efficient monarchs of the
Ur-Nina dynasty of Lagash were apparently remembered and
execrated as tyrants and oppressors of the people. To maintain
many endowed temples and a standing army the traders and
agriculturists had been heavily taxed. Each successive monarch
who undertook public works on a large scale for the purpose of
extending and developing the area under cultivation, appears to
have done so mainly to increase the revenue of the exchequer, so
as to conserve the strength of the city and secure its
pre-eminence as a metropolis. A leisured class had come into
existence, with the result that culture was fostered and
civilization advanced. Lagash seems to have been intensely modern
in character prior to 2800 B.C., but with the passing of the old
order of things there arose grave social problems which never
appear to have been seriously dealt with. All indications of social unrest
were, it would appear, severely repressed by the iron-gloved
monarchs of Ur-Nina's dynasty.

The people as a whole groaned under an ever-increasing burden
of taxation. Sumeria was overrun by an army of officials who were
notoriously corrupt; they do not appear to have been held in
check, as in Egypt, by royal auditors. "In the domain of
Nin-Girsu", one of